Return from Vacation

I'm back from my week at camp up in the Adirondacks. I had a great time and the weather was superb (which is a rarity late in August). The days were sunny and hot and we only had one evening of rain. The nights were cool and a few days started out in the 40's, but went up into the 70's and even 80's by mid-day.

My primary goal was to stain the camp which I started on Sunday and finished by Wednesday. 3o hours of painting, but I actually enjoyed it. It was just me and my dog Jessi hanging out together. She would just sit for hours and wait patiently while I worked until I stopped to take a break. Then we would take a hike, go for a swim or her favorite- take the boat out for a spin.

Here are a couple of pictures of my finished work. It turned out great and I even had time to take another day to prune out the trees and branches to let the sun shine in and keep our waterfront view nice and clear.

On Wednesday evening, Jennifer came up to camp and we went out to dinner at our favorite little spot in Mountain View only a mile away. Thursday was our wedding anniversary so we drove to Lake Placid for a round of golf, shopping and a nice dinner. The rest of the week and weekend was for playing and relaxing which I was very good at.

A well deserved afternoon nap

Not sure why, but one morning I got the urge to swim across the Lake, which is something I have wanted to try since I was a kid. With my niece in the kayak by my side, I set out on my journey. 40 minutes later I reached the other side and accomplished my goal. Must have been all the Olympic competition I had been watching that inspired me to "go for the gold"!
Hanging out on the front deck of Jennifer's camp next door.

While I was away, our State legislature passed a mid-year State budget reduction plan that will have a negative impact on our Kirkhaven revenue. It will be a few days before we know the details of the budget cuts and what, if any, action we may have to take in response. What a nice welcome back and way to get back into the swing of work. Should be an interesting next couple of weeks, so check back with my Blog for updates and follow-up.

Busy but Interesting Week

Busy week but full of many unique projects that kept me hopping but never bored. That's actually a nice thing about my job, everyday is very different and I get involved with a variety of initiatives that represent the many varied aspects of an organization.

On Monday, Jean Boyle (Director of Development) and I participated in a conference call with a firm in Dallas, Texas (RSI) that specializes in assisting not-for-profit organizations with major capital fund-raising campaigns. It was a very productive dialog which resulted in our requesting them to submit a formal proposal for our further consideration. We will pursue similar proposals from other firms as we begin to plan for a future campaign to raise some serious funds (3-4 million) to help support our Kirkhaven Replacement project.

Tuesday was suppose to be an "office day" to enable me to get some project and desk work done. At noon I received a call from Channel 13 News and was asked if I would do an interview to talk about the recent State budget cuts being proposed by the Governor and its impact on nursing homes. I like Seniorsfirst to be seen as an industry leader and advocate for good public policy, so I often say yes. It's always a risk because you can't control what they will report or what pieces of the interview they will air. You also need to be careful with what you say because your audience will be policy makers, consumers and staff and each will listen and interpret your remarks differently. Looks like this budget issue will become a real dog fight with significant dollars at risk. Just one more thing to add to our "to-do list", like we need this to worry about!

On Wednesday, Scott Maar (CFO) and I were joined by legal and reimbursement counsel to meet with the Office of Inspector General for a 2 hour Exit Conference related to our 2003-2006 Medicaid rate audit. We were really organized and prepared with our arguments & documentation and believe we made considerable inroads in fending off several unwarranted audit adjustments. We won't know for sure until at least another month, but the final outcome should be significantly less than what the initial draft audit report attempts to recover from us.

Our Marketing team spent 3 days this week working with an outside firm shooting video for use in sales, marketing and fund-raising videos that are being produced for our future use. Several staff, residents and others participated and took their turn under the lights and in front of the camera to offer testimony and conversation about various elements of our communities and services. The coordination and process was very professional and well organized, not to mention intimidating. But everyone got through it (including me) and we can't wait to see the final products by mid October (premier showing at the Gala on October 25).

On Thursday, a team of 10 of us from Kirkhaven drove to Buffalo to tour the Beechwood facilities. Beechwood is another pioneer organization that has embarked on a culture change project similar to Kirkhaven. They are a few years ahead of us in many aspects and have completed some household units with others in progress. We met with our counterparts, toured the facility and engaged in group dialog for the entire morning. As part of their mission, their Board has directed them to openly share and help spread the culture change movement to others. We learned a lot and their contagious passion mirrors our own.

Can't explain it, but sometimes a CEO just gets too much going on inside and it begins to consume you. I haven't been sleeping well this week and have been waking up at 4 a.m. trying to think it all out until the alarm goes off at 6:30. Friday, I gave in and got up and went to work instead. I needed the office time to play catch up, meet with my staff and get organized before I leave for a week vacation up at the cottage in the Adirondacks. Summer is fading fast and it fades even faster up North. I plan to paint the camp (which I actually enjoy) in addition to my usual boating, swimming, hiking and other more leisurely activities.

Have a great week and thanks for visiting my Blog. I'll be back in another week with vacation pictures and an update on what's new at Seniorsfirst!

Welcome New Blog Readers

I have officially invited all leadership staff at both Kirkhaven and Valley Manor to become regular viewers of my CEO blog. What started out as a simple communication tool between me and my senior leadership team, has now become an innovative medium for me to share a unique insight into our organization from the perspective of the CEO.


In addition to senior leadership, leadership and board members, I will soon open my blog up to all Seniorsfirst staff. My objective is to create a heightened level of transparency and understanding of the corporate and executive workings within Seniorsfirst in both an informative and enjoyable manner. Readers will get an "inside" look at our organization from a vantage point and perspective different from their own. My blog will include business news, event happenings, CEO work life and occasional glimpses into my life outside of work.


So welcome to my CEO blog! Go ahead and check out the earlier posts and get caught up with what you may have missed. Browse the blog features and be sure to "bookmark" this page so you can easily come back again to read my future blog postings. I generally update my blog weekly (over the weekend), so plan to visit me accordingly. If you care to leave a comment on my blog you can do so by clicking on "comments" at the end of each posting and simply following the prompts.

On the Kirkhaven replacement project we received approval from the seller and their attorney with respect to our purchase offer of the property we are interested in buying. This week we will share the document with the Executive Committee of the Board and then proceed to have it signed by both buyer and seller.

Amanda and I had good planning meetings last week, first with a group of renown culture change pioneers and then with our architect team to discuss further design ideas. This week a group of us are traveling to Buffalo to tour the Beechwood campus which has implemented the Household model and several culture change initiatives. We had planned to visit last month, but had to reschedule due to a conflict with the Department of Health annual survey.

The Seniorsfirst board meeting held last week was a very dynamic presentation by and dialogue with Greystone Communities who led us in good discussion concerning repositioning strategies to improve occupancy. We are left with a lot of information to consider and build upon as management will now have the challenge of creating specific action plans related to the Greystone findings and recommendations.

Nadine (Director of Nursing) and I met with Dr. Rich of the Viahealth Physician's Group to explore the potential of them providing our physician services at Kirkhaven upon Dr. Jurik's retirement later this year. We were very impressed with what we heard and plan to pursue further. We will also be speaking with the Strong Physician's Group in the near future.

Also this week will include a "not so much fun" conference with Medicaid auditors concerning their findings and adjustments pertaining to Kirkhaven's routine audit of our 2003-2006 Medicaid rates. This is a very political, frustrating and exhausting process that I really don't enjoy. Several hundred thousand dollars are on the line and these auditors are notorious for "inventing" innovative ways to create Medicaid dollar repayments. Scott and I worked over the weekend to review work papers, compile documentation and plan strategies to support our arguments. We will be joined by our attorney as we "go into the ring" for round one of this process. I'd much rather spend our valuable time on other more interesting projects, but the dollar impact of this demands our highest attention and priority.

I'll keep you posted on these items and anything new that comes along, but that's all for this week. Thanks for visiting. I hope you enjoy my blog and will become a regular visitor. See you next time.....................Jim.